A goal of the Total Worker Health™ Program is to use and expand research that embodies Total Worker Health and addresses worker health from a comprehensive perspective to protect, promote and improve the total health of the workforce. More targeted research is particularly needed for understanding the benefits gained by better integration of health protection and health promotion programs in the workplace. Research gaps and recommendations include:
- Development of a standardized measuring system for the effectiveness of combined health protection and health promotion programs
- More documented evidence between a workplace culture of health and improvements in employee behaviors, risks and business outcomes
- Development of a valid measure to document culture maturity and changes over time
- Additional directions for future research in TWH™ can be found in greater detail on pages 43-56 of the NIOSH TWH™ Research Compendium. Specific recommendations are made within five overarching including social epidemiology, development, intervention efficacy/effectiveness, process evaluation and dissemination/durability.
The original scientific rationale for the benefits of integrated health protection and health promotion programs was published in a research compendium, The NIOSH Total Worker Health™ Program: Seminal Research Papers 2012. Further evidence was published in a Total Worker Health Supplement in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in December 2013. The supplement contains proceedings from the first Total Worker Health™ Symposium sponsored by the University of Iowa Healthier Workforce Center for Excellence in November 2012.
Several resources are highlighted to encourage and support researchers in designing, implementing and evaluating studies to advance the Total Worker Health™ Program.
ACOEM Guidance Statement – Makes the case for integrating health protection and health promotion programs and advancing the premise that a healthier workforce will be a safer workforce and a safer workforce will be a healthier workforce
NIOSH Total Worker Health Research Compendium – Reviews scientific literature and introduces research agenda parameters for improving worker health through integrated and coordinated efforts of occupational health and safety and worksite health promotion
NIOSHTIC-2 – A searchable database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.
Research Perspectives on Total Worker Health™ – A more extensive list of references put together by the NIOSH TWH™ Program that are considered foundational for establishing the scientific rationale for the integration of health protection and health promotion.
Total Worker Health Supplement – Proceedings from presenters at the first Total Worker Health Symposium on Safe, Healthy and Cost-Effective Solutions held in Coralville, IA on November 29-30, 2012.